Reccomend a backup program (not clone) that can recover the full OS?

[Keith R]

I may not be using the correct terminology, so let me explain my situation &
goal:

I just got a (used, but clean) laptop with a 40GB HD from an employee
purchase program. They installed XP on it, but because of their original
licensing with the manufacturer, did not provide me an XP installation disk
and there is no recovery partition on the HD.

I'd like to make a compressed backup of the entire HD so that if I need to
start from scratch (effectively re-install the OS), I can just overwrite the
HD with the current image.

1) I'd like a compressed image just to save storage space (since I haven't
installed any software yet, maybe I can even back it up to DVD if the backup
file is small enough). I'd rather not fill up 40GB of a backup drive with an
empty image if I don't have to.

2) If there are any free tools that can do this, that would be great, but
I'll take any suggestions. I'm confused by all the backup terminology out
there- it isn't clear which programs are doing file/directory backups vs.
actual OS backups.

3) Eventually I might even want to upgrade the size of the HD (maybe...) so
if the image can be pushed back onto the same PC with a larger HD at some
point in the future, that would be good to know too.

Thank you,
Keith

 

[Jim]

"Keith R" <ker_01@newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
news:eHbyUikTIHA.4656@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>I may not be using the correct terminology, so let me explain my situation
>& goal:
>
> I just got a (used, but clean) laptop with a 40GB HD from an employee
> purchase program. They installed XP on it, but because of their original
> licensing with the manufacturer, did not provide me an XP installation
> disk and there is no recovery partition on the HD.
>
> I'd like to make a compressed backup of the entire HD so that if I need to
> start from scratch (effectively re-install the OS), I can just overwrite
> the HD with the current image.
>
> 1) I'd like a compressed image just to save storage space (since I haven't
> installed any software yet, maybe I can even back it up to DVD if the
> backup file is small enough). I'd rather not fill up 40GB of a backup
> drive with an empty image if I don't have to.
>
> 2) If there are any free tools that can do this, that would be great, but
> I'll take any suggestions. I'm confused by all the backup terminology out
> there- it isn't clear which programs are doing file/directory backups vs.
> actual OS backups.
>
> 3) Eventually I might even want to upgrade the size of the HD (maybe...)
> so if the image can be pushed back onto the same PC with a larger HD at
> some point in the future, that would be good to know too.
>
> Thank you,
> Keith
>
Acronis True Image will create a backup of your system disk to one or more
DVDs. It isn't free.

Jim

 

[DL]

But they did have a fully functioning trial, on their site

"Jim" <j.n@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:KWdfj.35993$Pv2.19539@newssvr23.news.prodigy.net...
>
> "Keith R" <ker_01@newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
> news:eHbyUikTIHA.4656@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>>I may not be using the correct terminology, so let me explain my situation
>>& goal:
>>
>> I just got a (used, but clean) laptop with a 40GB HD from an employee
>> purchase program. They installed XP on it, but because of their original
>> licensing with the manufacturer, did not provide me an XP installation
>> disk and there is no recovery partition on the HD.
>>
>> I'd like to make a compressed backup of the entire HD so that if I need
>> to start from scratch (effectively re-install the OS), I can just
>> overwrite the HD with the current image.
>>
>> 1) I'd like a compressed image just to save storage space (since I
>> haven't installed any software yet, maybe I can even back it up to DVD if
>> the backup file is small enough). I'd rather not fill up 40GB of a backup
>> drive with an empty image if I don't have to.
>>
>> 2) If there are any free tools that can do this, that would be great, but
>> I'll take any suggestions. I'm confused by all the backup terminology out
>> there- it isn't clear which programs are doing file/directory backups vs.
>> actual OS backups.
>>
>> 3) Eventually I might even want to upgrade the size of the HD (maybe...)
>> so if the image can be pushed back onto the same PC with a larger HD at
>> some point in the future, that would be good to know too.
>>
>> Thank you,
>> Keith
>>
> Acronis True Image will create a backup of your system disk to one or more
> DVDs. It isn't free.
>
> Jim
>

 

[Ricky]

You might find something here to do what you need..
http://www.thefreecountry.com/utilities/backupandimage.shtml

"Keith R" <ker_01@newsgroup.nospam> wrote in message
news:eHbyUikTIHA.4656@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>I may not be using the correct terminology, so let me explain my situation
>& goal:
>
> I just got a (used, but clean) laptop with a 40GB HD from an employee
> purchase program. They installed XP on it, but because of their original
> licensing with the manufacturer, did not provide me an XP installation
> disk and there is no recovery partition on the HD.
>
> I'd like to make a compressed backup of the entire HD so that if I need to
> start from scratch (effectively re-install the OS), I can just overwrite
> the HD with the current image.
>
> 1) I'd like a compressed image just to save storage space (since I haven't
> installed any software yet, maybe I can even back it up to DVD if the
> backup file is small enough). I'd rather not fill up 40GB of a backup
> drive with an empty image if I don't have to.
>
> 2) If there are any free tools that can do this, that would be great, but
> I'll take any suggestions. I'm confused by all the backup terminology out
> there- it isn't clear which programs are doing file/directory backups vs.
> actual OS backups.
>
> 3) Eventually I might even want to upgrade the size of the HD (maybe...)
> so if the image can be pushed back onto the same PC with a larger HD at
> some point in the future, that would be good to know too.
>
> Thank you,
> Keith
>

 

[Chang Yin]

Hello Keith,

Thank you for your reply.

Also thank to Jim, DL and Ricky for sharing the useful information. I hope
these information will help you to get a proper tool.

I would also like to share some information regarding NTBackup for your
reference:

Ntbackup:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-
us/ntbackup_command.mspx?mfr=true

For more details about Backup Utility, please refer to:

How to use the Backup utility that is included in Windows XP to back up
files and folders:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308422

For the question about differences between file backup and the full system
backup:
========================================================

We can easily see the differences in the Backup Utility panel.

When we are making a full system backup, we back up all the data in our
hard disk. When we are making a file backup, we don't backup these System
State data (including Active Directory, Boot Files, COM+ Class Registration
Database, Registry, SYSVOL).

The System State data is essential for Operating System to work.

Based on the knowledge above, we will know that if we only back up the
files without the System State, we cannot restore it to a new hard disk
without any further configuration.

I hope this helps.

If anything is unclear, please free feel to let me know.

Have a nice day!

Sincerely,
George Yin
Microsoft Online Support
Microsoft Global Technical Support Center

Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
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